AOL's next sales job: Netscape employees

CBS.MarketWatch.com

America Online Chairman Steve Case and Chief Operating Officer Bob Pittman are expected to meet and greet employees at Netscape Communications' (NSCP)
nscp
Mountain View, Calif., headquarters next week. The purpose is to answer employee questions about the pending merger of the companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. AOL's (AOL)
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interactive-services president, Barry Schuler, is expected to head the transition team working on the integration of the company's Web properties, the report added. Some Netscape workers and customers are described as "clearly worried" about the takeover, though it's said they "have plenty of alternatives in the form of job offers." The real question, as one Silicon Valley veteran told the Journal: "Do the real cool guys at Netscape want to work for AOL?"

Users of Netscape's Netcenter portal Web site may present a challenge for America Online. "Netscape's typical customer is far more businesslike and oriented toward efficient use of the Internet," said Thomas E. Miller, president of online market researcher Cyber Dialogue. "They're not likely to tolerate a barrage of unsolicited online merchandising offers." Cyber Dialogue also estimated that the acquisition of Netscape (NSCP)
nscp
by AOL (AOL)
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means that one out of three U.S. adults who go online monthly will start their online sessions by opening a page owned by America Online.

Global record labels including Sony, Warner Music and EMI Group have reportedly inked an agreement with IBM (IBM)
IBM, +1.33%
to participate in a system for digital delivery of music. The so-called Madison Project is set to start next year, London's Financial Times reported. IBM is said to have invested $20 million to allow consumers to download music from the Internet.

The holiday shopping season is expected to see more online transactions than ever, according to analysts at American Express (AXP)
AXP, +1.00%
. "This will be the year it comes of age," the company's Judy Tenzer said. AmEx's Retail Index survey on holiday commerce anticipates that 10 percent of purchases will be made online, up from last year's 6 percent, Tenzer told CBS.MarketWatch.com. Another survey found evidence that online households will be very active in e-commerce. Surveying almost 2,000 computer users with online connections, Louis Harris and Associates found 43 percent said they are probably going to buy something online this season; just 10 percent said they did so last year. Also, the National Retail Federation predicts 27 percent of the average Internet holiday shopper's gift budget will be spent online.

AT&T is giving families and friends free Net-based conference calls through its AT&T(T)
T, +1.04%
Click2Dial conferencing service. To make a free conference call, go to http://www.click2dial.att.com and enter the phone numbers of up to six people. Only the host needs to have Internet access. Other participants need only a phone. The free 10-minute conference calls are available through midnight Sunday.

Starr testimony hot Net programming in District

More then 70 percent of all Internet page views of fastv.com's coverage of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's impeachment testimony were on computers in the Washington, D.C., area. Over a quarter of a million impressions were delivered by fastv.com and through its co-branded site with Lycos at fastv.lycos.com, according to preliminary data from the company. Among the 10 most active cities were Vienna, Va.; Falls Church, Va.; Springfield, Va.; and the District of Columbia itself. Others in the top 10 included New York City; Seattle; and San Jose, Calif.

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